iHeart, Cumulu$ Make It Rain On Exec$

There was serious cause for celebration in the upper echelons of iHeartMedia and Cumulus, as it was revealed via separate 8-K filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that both companies will be showering sweet bonuses upon it key executives — on January 10, 2017, the Board of Directors of iHeartMedia, Inc. approved a form of retention bonus agreement and individual retention bonus amounts for Bob Pittman (left), Chairman and Chief Executive Officer — $1,750,000; Richard J. Dressler (right), President, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer — $1,750,000; and Steven J. Macri, Senior Vice President, Corporate Finance — $750,000.

But wait! There’s more! The Board also approved the “2017 Key Employee Incentive Plan,” under which Pittman and Bressler will be eligible to earn an aggregate bonus of $7,000,000 and $3,000,000, respectively. That Incentive Plan runs from January 1, 2017 until December 31, 2017. All the fine print is included in the 8-K filing.

• Meanwhile, over at Cumulus, the compensation committee of the Board of Directors of Cumulus Media Inc. approved a one-time compensation award payment of $1,087,500 to company President & Chief Executive Officer Mary G. Berner, “in recognition of, among other things, her exceptional efforts and contributions during 2016, both individually and as a member of the management leadership team, in the initial phase of the Company’s operational turnaround plan and ongoing operational and financial restructuring.”